I saw a dinghy for sale notice on the bulletin board at the marina today and
went to look. It was pretty old and beat but I pretended to be interested
when I realized that the boat in the weeds next to it was a worn and
neglected Coronodo 27 that looked oddly familiar. It was fortunate that I
could say I was responding to the marina ad so I could claim to be computer
illiterate. I was thus able to get more of the story than I might have
otherwise. I told the old guy that I might be interested in the Coronodo
but would have to come back for another look. I went home and looked up
the pictures that recently came to light to refresh my memory and returned
the next day. It's clearly the same boat and has been filling with leaves
for a long time. I took the owner out for some beers and stuck to too low a
price to make it worth his while but learned quite a bit.

He did a lot of sailing in his time, several years and some long trips on a
Swan 68. His primary duties were in the owner's cabin but he did get to do
some deck work and stand watches. Time is cruel to those whose talents and
opportunities are a function of their youth and compliance and he eventually
outgrew his job description. There were then a lot of years on the beach
that he didn't talk about much but he eventually fell in with the owner of
the Coronodo. The two of them cruised a fair amount around the keys
although the owner of the boat was quite conflicted about his sexuality and
they kept their relationship fairly discrete.

The boat owner's brother was a convicted sex offender so he bought the small
bungalow where I saw the boat so he would have a place to live. The three
of them in the house was evidently not a pretty sight and the brother left.
They both came down with AID's about the time the web site for the boat
disappeared and the boat went into the back yard. Complications from other
medical issues took the owner fairly quickly and he left the house and boat
to the old guy who says he now spends his days "surfing the internet" and
taking his pills.

The boat is going fast due to leaves and accumulation of rainwater since the
old guy can't get up a ladder. He needs money but doesn't really want to
sell it as the view of it out the window is his memory of the happiest times
in his life. When he dies, which probably won't be terribly long now, I
imagine the city will take the boat to the dump. House too for that matter.

I was all terribly pathetic and I'm not going to intrude on his privacy by
revealing the city or even state. I would say though that it puts many of
the posts to this newsgroup in a very different light. Having met the
author, I now have to admire the spirit that created this humorous and
harmless fictions. It's all he has left so please accord him a little space
and respect. He was once a sailor and one of us.